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The production of textiles is a very ancient human endeavour. In pre-industrial settings, it was a complex and time-consuming craft that must have engaged a large part of the population. The product was both vital to society and in high demand. Clearly, not only has textile production been a major economic activity throughout history, but […]
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When Herodotus visited Egypt in the fifth millennium BC, he noted how Egypt was the gift of the Nile, since the fertile black muds that arrived with the annual flood were the foundation of Egyptian agriculture. Beyond its annual flood, the Nile river has often been regarded as stable and eternal over the longer term; […]
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We have heard it a thousand times. The world is going downhill and it’s the “system’s” fault. To save the planet, we must change the “system.” But what do we mean by the “system”? Capitalism? Is it “capitalism” that makes nations, corporations, and individuals seek out the best deals – which promotes low-wage labor and […]
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My inaugural, ghost-written speech to the Niha – learned rote and recited to massed tribesmen over a bloody carpet of pigmeat – ended with the resonant phrase, There is no resentment! It took me a further year of gruelling fieldwork in Nias to work out what, in practice, ‘painful heart’ really meant and why it […]
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Social theory is that kind of theory which should help us to understand and explain this modern world in which we all live. What caused the rise of the modern world? What are the driving forces of the constant change inherent to modernity? And what is the underlying ‘spirit’ of such forces? Social theory – […]
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In contemporary western society, risky behavior by male adolescents is seen as maladaptive for the individual and a serious social problem. It may lead to injury or death, delinquent and/or illegal behavior, bullying, rape, STDs, substance abuse and, conflict with authority including parents and poor academic outcomes. “The prevailing conceptual framework for thinking about these […]
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Following the recent release of The Ontological Turn: An Anthropological Exposition, we interview the book's authors, Martin Holbraad and Morten Axel Pedersen, to find out more...
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Babies everywhere are delivered, usually welcomed, and often celebrated . . . but in the Beng community of Côte d’Ivoire, they are also lured back into this life from wrugbe, the afterlife, where Beng souls are said to live after death until they are reborn. How do you care for a baby who’s come from […]
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